Trustworthy Insurance maintains its headquarters in a large Midwestern city. Rig
ID: 3688910 • Letter: T
Question
Trustworthy Insurance maintains its headquarters in a large Midwestern city. Right now, a debate is raging in the IT department. Several analysts want to use standard, company-wide desktop screen layouts and icons. Others want to allow users to set up their screens any way they choose. Those who argue for standardization point out that Trustworthy employs a number of part-time employees, who fill in for employees on vacation. Without a standard interface, these people would have to reorient to every workstation, and the proponents of standardization claim that would reduce productivity and increase costs. Those opposed to standardization believe that employees are most productive when they have control over their workplace, including the ability to design an interface they feel is attractive, even if no one else does. You are on a committee that was charged with resolving this issue, and yours is the tie-breaking vote. What will you decide, and why?
Explanation / Answer
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES Unlike early innovations such as the mouse and the inkjet printer, most technology advances today affect both output and input. In a very real sense, output and input have become interdependent, as they are in a user interface, and it is difficult to cite examples of changes in one that would not cause, or at least encourage, changes in the other. For example, new touch-screen input technology generates output that must be properly designed and sized for a particular device, which might be a smartphone, a tablet, or a 23-inch desktop monitor. The following sections discuss output and input technology separately, but interface designers should always be alert to the possible opportunities, or potential problems, of input/output linkage. Output Techno logy Although business information systems still provide most output as screen displays and printed matter, technology is having an enormous impact on how people communicate and obtain information. This trend is especially important to firms that use.